1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to end discs, hubs and bushings for drum conveyor pulleys. More particularly, the present invention relates to provision of an integrated keyless, frictional hub portion consisting of a frictional shaft locking device and a frictional weld-free end disc for use in drum conveyor pulleys.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conveyor pulleys, also known as drum conveyor pulleys or belt conveyor pulleys, are used for material handling in numerous different applications in many industries, such as mining and quarrying, production/assembly lines, warehouse and distribution lines, mailing facility sorters, luggage handling at airports, etc. An illustrative belt conveyor system (depicted in FIG. 1) has drums with welded end discs and bushings fitted and/or keyed around a shaft. The bushing 5 and the end disc 2 within the drum 1 should form a perpendicular interface from the face of end disc 2 and the centerline axis of shaft 3. In order to secure this arrangement in the prior art, the end discs 2 are welded at 6 to each given drum 1, and the bushing hubs 5 are, in turn, welded to the end discs 2 at 7.
Such systems are expensive and inefficient to manufacture. A particular disadvantage of the prior art approach is that the required welding—given the high degree of perpendicularity and concentricity required for most material handling applications necessitates the use of cumbersome and expensive jigs and results in an unacceptable number of rejected drum conveyor pulleys. Further, replacement of the drum 1 due to damage or wear typically requires discarding the entire drum 1, end discs 2 and bushings 5 assembly.
Accordingly, none of the prior art offers a way to avoid the manufacturing and maintenance problems inherent in welded end discs and bushings in drum conveyor pulleys.